Which to use
“shame” is a verb and “shark” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #43,491
- “shame” frequency rank
- #40,843
- “shark” frequency rank
- 84334
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | shame | shark |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | jemanden beschämen | der Haifisch, Hai |
Letter map: shame vs shark
Shared letters muted; letters that set shame and shark apart highlighted. Shared run: 3. shame (CCVCV) and shark (CCVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Grammar separator: shame vs shark
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: shame is averb and sharkanoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 84334, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
shame is recorded at frequency rank #43,491, classified as averb, pronounced […]. shark is at rank #40,843, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ʃɑːk].
Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.
With a confusion score of 84334, this pair ranks #125,419 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of shame vs shark
Shared letters: ahs. Private to "shame": em. Private to "shark": kr.
"shame" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "shark" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "shame" for "shark" ever safe?
Which is more common, "shame" or "shark"?
After this comparison
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "shame" and "shark".
- Full dictionary entry for "shame" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "shark" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #125,419 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "shame" and "shark" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "puzzles vs shame". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #125,419 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.